Full Transcript

Thank you. Thank you. And as we start all of our meetings, we please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. And I will ask our town historian, Georgette Case, to please lead us in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Georgette. Thank you.

Okay, first up on the open session today, we have Tracy Stark-James and Mattis surrounding an update on the Riverhead IDA brought to you by myself and Councilwoman Waski. So Riverhead IDA, come on up.

Where's your left one? Is there a Tracy? I'm going to sit by the left one. Good morning. Hi, how are you? Well, thank you. How are you? Good. Thank you. Do you have one? I'm sorry. Okay. Thank you. Is there a spare one? Thank you for coming in today. No, no, no. Thank you for inviting us. I can't hear you. Is there a spare one? Do you have an extra one for the press? One of them. Do you mind when we're finished? Thank you for inviting us in. We prepared a brief presentation involving the 2023 data. That's our most recent data. We're currently processing the 2024 data. And we hope that we can once again try and help the public understand the investment that the IDA incentives bring to the town. Today with me is Chairman Farley, Jim Farley, Vice Chairman Lee Mendelson, and our Treasurer, Doug Williams. Absent from us, but may be viewing, is Barbara Rizzi, our new board member, and Lorianne Pichinski who is our secretary. Mm-hmm. With that, Jim, would you please come up? Sure. Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [transcription gap] Thank you. we just have a small set of slides here, and I'll just sort of lead off, and then I'm going to hand over to Lou to cover a number of the slides as well. And when questions come up, if they do, feel free. Okay. It should be pretty straightforward. The first slide, slide two, is simply the group, which I just put forward to you. But I think we'll just turn to slide three, and we just want to, as Tracy said, we're using our 2023 numbers. 2024 is just getting sorted out. But there's four basic points we want to make about the IDA in terms of our numbers, and that is that, number one, we impact very few properties in real terms. And the second thing would be is that we're always in projects that are evolving and increase in assessed values, which is positive to the overall tax calculation. And as would follow from that, of course, we always have increasing tax revenue in terms of our activities. So the portfolio of the IDA is always increasing the tax revenue to the individual. So we're always increasing the tax revenue to the town on a straightforward basis. And finally, and also very important, we're also increasing jobs, as you'll see from the statistics that Lee will go over. Lee Neubecker- I'd like to just replay that page again and again, what you just said. Well, we'll do it in the conclusion. How is that? No, it's important that not fiction, but facts, define the conversation of the IDA. Always. We've got to stop the banter. And hopefully today will help. I think there's a lot of misinformation out there, misunderstanding. So we're so glad that you guys came in here today to kind of lay it out so that the public understands exactly what the IDA does and what the benefit of it is. Lee Neubecker- Incidentally, in the past, the IDA presentations have always provided sort of what I'll call a knee bone connected to the thigh bone analysis of what we do and how the process works. But we have a pretty good video of that on our website. I forget which. It's right on the home page. Lee Neubecker- Yeah, right on our home page. It walks through the whole IDA process. So we won't address that today. We'll just get to our statistical analysis, really. Lee Neubecker- Appreciate that, because people, all they care about is numbers. That's all we care about. So appreciate that. I say I care about it. I don't want to speak for everybody else. We're going to cut right to the chase. So rather than teach everybody what the IDA is about, which, again, you can look at that video, we're going to sort of summarize what we've done, what we've done, what we're doing, so that you have a real-time picture of what's going on. The one thing that I do want to mention is that what people need to understand, and I know that the board understands, is that we're a real asset to the town. Nobody likes when taxes go up. Nobody. I saw this morning that the school taxes, the proposal, was another 5 percent raise. We know what's going on. And it's pretty clear. It's because no matter what we do, you can't stop costs from increasing. So that leaves municipalities, including the town, with three choices. Your three choices are to continue to increase taxes, and we know that that goes over like a lead balloon, to tell people you're going to cut services. You're not going to fill the potholes. You're going to have to scale down the police force. You're not going to be able to do anything. You're not going to be able to pick up garbage as much. You're not going to be able to do the leaves. That goes over like a lead balloon. The third option is to increase the tax base. By increasing the tax revenue that the town generates, you're able to maintain the standards that the people have become accustomed to as part of living within the town. And the IDA directly assists. It assists in helping to increase that tax base for the people of the town. And they do it in such a manner that it has both direct effects and indirect benefits for the town as well. So Tracy... Mr. Mendelson, just before you continue, you mentioned the school taxes. Could you explain to the public with regard to IDA benefits whether or not you have the ability to exempt school taxes? Yes. And the taxes are not as the law currently exists? We... The law provides for the exemptions that we provide for. Those four exemptions. The school, the county, the town, and Fire District. That's it. But we have a slide that will give you some sort of idea of really the impact upon the school. That is completely, I think, misapprehended by the public. And we're hoping that some real world numbers will give somebody other ideas. And Lee, if I can just add, you talked about the increase in the taxes as a way to counter your increase in costs. But we do it on non-residential properties. And that's the goal. Right? You don't want to increase the residential properties. You want to increase the commercial properties. Sure. So, in 2023, we had 21 IDA projects. 21 parcels. There are over 16 and a half thousand parcels of land in the town of Riverhead. We have projects on 21 of them. So before people start carrying, they're carrying away, that the IDA has this enormous impact that it affects thousands of properties. It doesn't. Now, that 21 number does fluctuate from year to year, depending upon what projects may be introduced onto the IDA that go forward and which ones may come off the pilot rolls. So it's a bit of a rolling number. But we decided what we would do, since we had the most recent numbers from 2023, is we're just taking a snapshot. We're taking a snapshot in time so that you can have perspective just based upon that. So in 2023, we had 21 projects out of 16 and a half thousand parcels of property in the town of Riverhead. Next, Tracy. On those 21 parcels alone, before the IDA's involvement, the taxes generated from those 21 projects. So the total of those 21 parcels was $720,000, give or take. The exact numbers are on the slide. After the IDA's involvement and the development of those projects, in 2023, those same 21 parcels generated $2.9 million in tax revenue for the town. That's an increase of $2.2 million. Wow. So that's $2.9 million in revenue in 2023 just from those 21 projects. And again, that number fluctuates from year to year, depending upon what point in the pilot they may be at, what projects may now have reached completion of the pilot and are now paying 100% of taxes based upon assessed value. And what other projects may be at that point. So those are the two projects that are starting. But in 2023, the difference on those 21 parcels alone was over $2.2 million that goes for the benefit of the town. Tracy, next. Can I just add to that? Sometimes when they discuss an exemption, the state and in other municipalities it occurs more frequently because of the tax revenue. Because we have more under developed properties. A true exemption usually lowers a number, right? But, a value. But in the case of River head IDA, in our projects, we're just labeling the new value as an exemption. labeling the new value as an exemption and that's how they measure it in the state and on the Paris. Tracy, we just want to talk about the numbers that we're referring to. Next slide. The assessed value for those 21 properties we're talking about before the development that occurred, the assessed value was $7,033,000. So $7 million. Once that development has been concluded, the assessed value on those same 21 properties was now almost $32 million. That's an increase in assessed value of almost $25 million. The grade of the assessed value. Obviously, the higher the ultimate taxes are going to be because as everyone knows, and I certainly know the board knows, but you pay taxes based upon the assessed value of the property. So if you go from an increase from $7 million to $31 million, then it certainly stands to reason that the tax revenue generated from those same properties are going to go up. So that's the first thing. Next slide. The same system, same system, same system, same system, same system, same system, same system, same system, same system, same system, same system, same system, same system, same [transcription gap] some of the pictures over there these are projects that that have been completed some before and after pictures you can see what happens when you have development that is the idea is involved in the town is involved in and they really work to benefit the the people of the town you'll see that from the from next slide in 2023 those 21 projects again what only talking about 21 projects out of almost 16 and a half thousand parcels those 21 parcels had generated 29 jobs 29 out of the 21 posts after After the projects were developed, in 2023, there were 1,402 jobs on those 21 projects for an increase of almost 1,360 jobs on those 21 parcels. Now, what people need to understand as well, and what doesn't always show up in numbers and statistics, is that you have both direct benefits, such as an increase in jobs and increase in tax revenue, but you have indirect benefits as the result of reasoned development that occurs when it's done improperly. And by that I mean... You could take... Take a more recent project of the IDA, which was the Restaurant Depot, which occurred in a shopping center that, as we all know, contained a lot of vacancies, including the space that Restaurant Depot took over, which had been vacant for at least a decade. That shopping center was not as thriving as it could have been. But Restaurant Depot came in, and the parking lot got paved. New lighting went up in there. New signs went up. And as we had discussed in many of our meetings in public, that we believe that a project such as this one would have additional benefits. And sure, what happened? You now have a lot of benefits. You now have a furniture store next to the Restaurant Depot. Next to the furniture store came in Ali's, a national chain. This is the furthest, easternmost store that Ali's has. And slowly but surely, you can just watch as you drive by the transition from a shopping center that was once, let's say, lackeyed. And now, you have a lot of benefits. You have a lot of benefits. You have a full head full head full head full head full head full head full head full head full head full head full head full head full head full head full head full head full [transcription gap] projects is people often criticize the idea saying that if these developers wanted to build the project in Riverhead they would build it without regard to whether the idea gave benefits or not that is simply not true restaurant depot came and they told us in no uncertain terms that if they did not receive benefits they would find another place for the depot and they told us the only built in municipalities that offered them some sort of incentives or benefits why is that you saw the space that restaurant depot took over that was an enormous renovation an enormous investment that they put in there to bring that store up to the standards that restaurant depot wanted this idea and this town is competing with 13 other towns and really 95 other villages across Long Island each one of them would love a restaurant they would love some of the development so it's not as if somebody's going to say especially in this kind of economic environment that if they wanted to come here they would come here no matter what that's not true and anybody who understands business fundamentals understands that everybody is always cognizant of their bottom line they want to know where they might receive their greatest return on investment. So all of these factor into it. Do I think Riverhead is desirable? I do. Do I think it's going to be more desirable in the future? I do. Does that mean that a business is prepared to take a loss or cut its bottom line as opposed to generating more income, perhaps in another town? The answer is I don't. Because no matter how you look at it, people always go back to their bottom line. So when we have projects such as Restaurant Depot and such as some of the other ones that we do, you have to take into consideration the investment they're making, the direct and indirect benefits. And the fact that we are competing with other towns and other villages who want the very same development for the very same reasons that we've outlined. Everybody needs to increase their tax base. And what we do is we try and help the town do that. These tax incentives that we give are not permanent. They have an end to them. And at which point they're paying full boat of what the taxes are. Lee, I just have to say one thing that's so important in my mind is that if we waved a wand and made Riverhead IDA disappear, Suffolk County IDA would be handing out these benefits. Suffolk County IDA doesn't really have skin in the game of the town of Riverhead. Riverhead IDA is a town that's going to be in the middle of the river. But Suffolk County IDA is comprised of people that live in the town of Riverhead. So you want what's best for your town as opposed to having Suffolk County do it. They may not be as aware of our needs and our concerns out here. So it's very important that we have a local IDA versus letting the county IDA make decisions for us. Yeah, and I would add to that that it's very important because Tracy maintains a very good relationship with Suffolk County IDA. so we don't tend to trip over each other either. Right. Which I think is quite important. And I would certainly agree with that. As you know, the IDA by statute is an unpaid board. You have five local residents who care deeply about the town of Riverhead. We don't want to do anything that would harm the town of Riverhead. And we take a very, very sharp look at every single project that comes before us. There's no rubber stamp on this board. Certainly as long as I've been on the board and from what I've been told, the prior boards as well. This is not a rubber stamp board. If you can't justify the benefits to us, then... Come back to us when you can. But until that time, we're not interested in that. Which is why there are not thousands of projects and everybody who comes before us simply gets one because they ask. There's a rigorous application review that goes on. First by Tracy and then by the board. And then discussions which take place. So I think you're 100% right, Tim, about having a local board with local interests. Making sure that everything is for the benefit of the town. Next slide. This is just an idea of... This is not an idea. This is actually what happened with just a couple of the projects. What the project is. This is what the property looked like before there was development and after there was development. You probably recall what Summer Wind, what that corner looked like before Summer Wind was there. And now take a look at that project. Peconic Crossing. We know what that area, you know, what that part of Main Street looked like as opposed to what that part of Main Street looks like now. The developments have an overall positive impact. Upon not just the tax base but on the beauty and vibrancy of the town. Next. Now this is the slide here that I think is probably one of the most important slides. And again, I'm going to hedge this for just a moment. I'm going to hedge this for just a moment. I'm going to hedge this for just a moment. This is the impact with respect to the school budget. We don't have a meeting where somebody doesn't... We don't have a meeting where somebody doesn't... ...doesn't raise an issue about our detrimental effect upon... ...doesn't raise an issue about our detrimental effect upon...

Okay? Over the last 10-year period, the school budget was $1.54 billion. That's a billion dollars. And I saw in this morning's news that the projected budget for next year, they're estimating another $210 million. Now, I have trouble wrapping my head around that for 5,600 students or so, the school budget is $210 million. Meanwhile, the town budget to provide services for 35,000 residents is less than that. Put that aside for a moment. And we have been accused, although we have not been able to reconcile the numbers we've been accused. We have been accused of costing the school district over the same 10-year period $15 million. Let's put that in perspective for a moment. Assuming for a moment that number is true, and we're trying to figure out where that number came from, if it was $15 million as opposed to the $1.54 billion over the same 10-year period, you're talking about a temporary proportional impact of less than 1%. Less than 1% of the budget over the last 10 years. That is, at best, a statistical anomaly. And at worst, you're talking about $100 a student, maybe even $100 a student. But there's nothing to say about that. [transcription gap] maybe if that's what you're talking about but where what everybody forgets is that each year those pilot payments increase and we already showed you that the same property if they didn't have that ID a development would still be paying the same seven hundred thousand dollars in real estate taxes that they were paying prior to the development that in 2023 they paid 2.9 million dollars for you do the math and you will see that what the school should be doing is working with us and working with the town because if they need the increase in the tax base and the school budget to pay the tax base they will be paying the same amount of dollars just like everyone else does so if the school wanted to insist that these developments don't occur and they continue to receive 700,000 on those 21 properties and they lose the additional 2.2 million dollars that they received in the school budget or the increases that they will need on behalf of the public would only be more so than what they are now so that's the point I'm sorry and also to that point strategically shifting the revenue sources particularly funding the school budget which seems to be the elephant in the room for the town shifting those sources that revenue to the commercial uh... [transcription gap] industrial sector of the town is extremely critical in order to should we say balance or pushing the impact on the residential side of the community and that continued growth in taxes is not a healthy thing accordingly accordingly accordingly If you go back to the $792,000, right, and a lot of those properties, I know from being on the board, have been, you know, blighted for 10 years plus, right? It would be about a $300 increase per student if the IDA did no projects. Could help. Roughly, because it's, right, your numbers, guys, three times. Roughly, yeah. But I think our overriding point here, though, is that the school budget is beginning to grow to a size where we don't really register impact there. Understood. I mean, you know, we've got the blighted properties redone, and we have increased employment. These are all things we can add to. We have, we don't look at any project with respect to, there seems to be a lot of sensitivity in town in terms of a project that brings more people in. That brings more children in. Well, frankly, that's, on this board, more kids in town is great, as far as we're concerned. And so we never do a project where we ignore, if you will, impacts on the schools. We look at those numbers. We look at the potential students coming in and new projects and so forth. So it's all considered. In simple math, basically, without the IDA, last year the residents of the town of Riverhead included a business portion, but... But me, my personal home, all of us would have had to pick up another $2.2 million of the school, of the overall budget. So, you know, that would have been, had to be, if you guys didn't exist and these projects didn't go through, Correct. everybody would have had to absorb that increase. That's correct. So your direct impact is, is, in the long run, is you're saving every resident in this town money. You got, looking at the long-term picture. So we thank you. Right. And I just want to add one other thing that you brought up, and the supervisor brought up. When Suffolk County IDA gets involved in a project in Suffolk County, they're not interested in each individual town, to your point about being local. So often, their pilots are reduced dramatically. They're charged with economic development throughout the county, not for individual towns. So if you decline Restaurant Depot or anybody else, they have the option to go to Suffolk County IDA. Okay. I want to just make that clear to the public. Thank you. Okay. So I think, I was just going to say, this is perhaps, not perhaps, this is the absolute best presentation the IDA has ever done to explain it to a level where our residents truly can understand. If they just watch this segment and listen to everything that you just spoke about, this makes so much sense to have. Okay. And I think that's, I think that's a great point. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. but a good thing for the town of Riverhead and we see it all the time in the comments but why doesn't my house get you know why can't I go to IDA benefits for my house how come I don't get those well because a your residential that will you guys only work commercial but the big concern is that this money is coming in and this number the 2.2 million is only going to grow each year because the further these projects get into their years down the road the more money the town recoups to finally when they reach full potential and then they come off the road and then they come right exactly so it just makes sense all across the board I will say one other complaint that we have heard often is your website is the website itself and I know you've made some changes to it so and pretty big changes so I would just like maybe if you could touch on that yep sure unfortunately we did want to unveil a dashboard which would be a comprehensive tool that provides individualized information on each project the numbers and a little brief description of what they are it wasn't ready for unveiling today but we'll have it before the end of the year we're also doing a new website it's very simple very clear it's just you know I don't like to give excuses of the nails that built the house of failure and so I don't want to give excuses as to why it's not up and running yet but we'll get there and I have seen it and you have seen it so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so type of resort and the county put it in because they had the county IDA. So it's very important for everybody to understand the importance of our own IDA. If this goes away, the county steps in and they'll put in what they want, not what the town wants. And they often do pilots for lengthier periods of time. We always try, to the best of our ability, to keep pilots on as limited a time basis as we can. The county does not. They just do what they think works best, which often times would be a lot longer pilot than what this IDA would do. I would ask the Supervisor. Supervisor, if we can get this up on our website so that people can see it, they can look through it. And this is the best presentation because people care about the numbers. They always have, and how it works and everything else like that. It's like going to get your car fixed and the mechanic telling you how to put together an engine when he's just changing spark plugs. I just want to say something that, like, for public perception, that when there is an opening, a position available on the IDA, yes, this town board looks over many resumes and so forth and makes recommendations and appoints somebody to the IDA. But you're all sitting before us right now, and some of you can outright say that I haven't spoken to Councilman Roth. I haven't spoken to you. We allow you to work as an independent agency, and so we don't reach out to you and ask, how about this project? How about that project? And that's done deliberately. You are a separate entity. We don't control your decisions. But I want people to know that when they say, like, why, you know, that you are completely, once you put in that position, we allow you to go to work throughout all the legal troubles of 2005. We didn't speak to you, and it wasn't because we don't like you, but it was like it was the right thing to do to let you independently work, and that continues to today. And I just want the public to know that. So when there is an opening, yes, we look over resumes. We try to give you the tools that you need. Thank you. And I am grateful because you're all volunteers, and so I thank you. This is countless time, countless hours for you to put together and look over these projects for the better of our community, so we really appreciate that. But I'll just say hello. It's good to see you because we always allow you to independently work. I'll just end with another data point that we can capture because there's a lot we can't capture, right? Sales tax generated on eight of those projects in 2023 that they paid to New York State, in the county, was over $3.3 million. The sales tax comes back to us in public safety, as you can probably speak to more. Absolutely. And occupancy tax was over $800,000 in the one year. So just another, we didn't put that data point up, but it's something else that's generated. And again, that's one of those, quote, unquote, indirect benefits because of all the additional. No. [transcription gap] No. No. [transcription gap] No. No. So it's good for all of those other residual benefits that come when you do smart and intelligent development and you take space that's not generating sufficient tax revenue for this town and we increase the tax base, then the benefits are really, you know, countless. It's also quality of life. For our residents having amenities come into town, when you have good stores and good restaurants and good things in attendance, that builds a quality of life better. Great job. Thank you very, very much. I appreciate your time. We're all volunteering. We appreciate that. But the work you do is really good for the town and people just need to take that time to educate themselves before they get on the keyboard and start writing things. Educate yourself because you look foolish if you don't. So thank you for your presentation and we'd like to do this again maybe once your website gets up and running. Yeah, we'll do it on bail. Okay, good. Perfect. Thank you very much. Have a good day. Thank you. Good to see you. Thank you. Thank you. That was great. That was a very good presentation. Very well done. Okay, we've all been waiting for our next presentation. We have Georgette Case, the town historian, and she will be going over her annual report with us. And Denise Merrifield is her liaison. She's doing a wonderful job. She has a terrific report. We'll let Mrs. Case talk about it. I just want to say one thing before we get started, Georgette, is the move to the new building was pretty incredible. And I remember when your stuff all got moved here. And it was packed up. And from the time you went from being packed up in boxes and crates and everything else to what you've done down in that room now. And I ask people to take time on a Wednesday to stop down and visit the town historian and see what she has. She's got some really cool and interesting stuff. But she did a fantastic job laying it out in her new dig. So, very good job. Well, I brought the picture. That's what I'm talking about. It's in here. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. And I'll put it down. Lay it right here and they'll zoom in on it. And I have to commend Robbie and Tommy that they were so helpful. You want that moved here? We'll do it. Don't do it. We'll move it. And they put all the books. I have over 750 books. They all have Dewey Decimal numbers. And they put them all in order. And that took some doing. That's awesome. This is what it looks like now. I mean, this is what it looks like when we moved in, is Robbie and Tommy. They're buildings and grounds workers that we have. And you have to stop in to see what it looks like now because I will tell you it's incredible. It really is. And there's a lot of things to do. But there's nothing to do. [transcription gap] It really is. And she's got a ton of stuff down there, and you can just walk around and browse. Or if you have something in particular, old family history, something you want looked up, this is the lady who takes care of it. She does a fantastic job. There are 41 framed pictures on the walls. That's amazing. Great job. And also what she does is she puts a different display up at different times of the year out here in our glass showcases, highlighting different eras, different seasons, different things. So it's always changing. So we ask you to come in and take a look. She does a great job, and we're very proud to have you here. I saw former Chief Joe Groton standing outside the glass last week looking at the police things, and I just see his mind going just to reminisce about all those old times. Oh, absolutely. I love being downstairs there looking at all the photos you have of the homes and how they've changed. And many of them still are around. It's wonderful. It's really great. Well, New York State law requires that every municipality in the state have a town or village historian. And that law was passed in 1919. So being a town historian is not a new job. And our anniversary is March 13th. But the town board doesn't meet until later or closer to the 13th. And in 2013, I decided we had to do something annually to celebrate this so people know how old our town is. So since 2013, we have had a small skit and the reading of the state law. We have a full head full head full head full head the town of Riverhead. Now in my report I talk about the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act and the New York State Unmarked Burial Act. I did meet with our town attorney Eric Howard and I brought to his attention the information I received from the town historians association and it is very comprehensive. One of the items is 80 pages long and it's very important because this whole area was walked and lived on by Native Americans and if anybody finds anything of importance to the information I will be happy to share it with you. Bones, pottery, everything has to stop and certain people have to be called and the Native American tribe closest to our area would become involved. So I would suggest if anybody has questions about this act that they contact Eric. One of the highlights of the year was the New York State Unmarked Burial Act. The New York State Unmarked Burial Act was a very important act and it was the 300 pound safe that was donated to us by Paul Lesinski and it was once owned by former supervisor John Perkins and it is very heavy. I do have the combination for it so if somehow or other it gets closed I can reopen it. I think that's a fantastic piece of history for the town. Now this would be John Perkins that was involved in the Perkins Motel, Hotel? Same family? That was his brother. You have four large photographs in the main lobby here and two on the second floor. The two on the main floor are Rosabelle Reeve Lane and her daughter, and the other one is the home of Joshua Wells and there's a piece there showing you what it is and who it is. The second floor are pictures from about the 1950s when Matt and Helen Ammons home on East Main Street was raised and Sears Roebuck was built in its place. The other pictures that I had framed, they were postcards and large postcards and I invited several departments to come and look at them and see if they would like to display them and I only have one left. Everybody was very enthusiastic. They were very enthusiastic about getting it and displaying them in their offices. I want to talk about David Chippey. David Chippey was a black Civil War soldier. He was with the 29th Connecticut and he saw a great deal of action with the 29th and that was a group out of Connecticut. The SAR, also a reenactment group, was interested in marking the grave of David Chippey and I was happy to participate and you and Denise were also in attendance and I donated the cemetery marker saying that he's a Civil War soldier. And he is a great man. He's a great man. He's a great man. He's a brave man. He's brave. [transcription gap] James Ford Civic Association has invited me for the six times that it's done this, the July 4th celebration. And I've tried to bring them not only the history of early celebrations here in Rivet, but of other information about the history of the country. And one important thing is that families who have documents that pertain to the town of Rivet should return them to the town of Rivet. And I volunteer at the Historical Society, and they were showing me these books from a Justice of the Peace. Here in Rivet, Bill Leonard. And I asked if they could be returned to the town of Rivet, where they rightfully belonged. And it took almost a year to get them to return them. But we had a little ceremony at the Justice Court. And we had the books. And they were returned to the town. And they are now in the possession of the town clerk, where a lot of Justice of the Peace records are located.

Another interesting thing that happened, Highway Superintendent Mike Zaleski called me on the phone and said, I have received a letter. And I said, what? He said, she's in bad shape. I said, she's in bad shape. [transcription gap] So I took a trip up to the highway department and I looked at it and it was in bad shape. It's an original drawing by the architect of the building, Mr. Woods. And I got in touch with someone, I think in Maryland, who does this sort of work of restoring paintings and drawings. And I gave him that information and he contacted Dawn Thomas to see what could be done about it. The display cases you mentioned. I'd love to show you this. It's a cranberry picker. I also have a larger one. And I'm going to show you this. And this was from the George Davis Cranberry Farm in Calverton. Cranberries were a big business here in the town of River head because we had bogs. And in that display case, I had cranberry recipe. Recipe. Yeah. Which I have used several times. And there's one for each of you. Thank you. You make that for Thanksgiving? With the cranberry sauce? Or is it bread? It's apples and cranberries. Maybe you could pass that. I have a question for you. Pass the casserole. You brought up Joshua Wells. Yes. And in the community center building in Jamesport, in where the rectory was, there's a corner cabinet. And in there is a note. And it says, that Joshua Wells was the first supervisor of Revent. Is that correct? No. There's a note there. When you're there, take a look at that. No. It's handwritten. It was a Wells, but it wasn't Joshua. Which Wells was it? You don't have to tell me. It was a Wells. Your 1792 to 1880 book. That's this thing. We'll tell you who the first one was. Okay. Thank you.

Oh. Can I look and see who it was? Yes. I want to see what you have. I'm real curious. Thank you. Did you pre-plan this? No. I just, that always stuck out in my head because I was looking in that cabinet and I've always meant to ask you about it. I think Bob worked on the first supervisor's campaign. Did you? Yeah, I did. Actually. Yeah. We went on horseback from farm to farm. Not the rat, but several of the former supervisors are my great-grandparents. 1867 to 1890, Joshua L. Wells. The first one? No, he wasn't the first one. He was the fourth one. The first one was Daniel Wells. Daniel Wells was the first one. Yeah, I'm all about 1864. 1792. So maybe Joshua signed it. I thought you'd find that as a good piece of history. I think it belongs in your hands. These two books are in the town clerk's office for sale. Great. That's good. Kevin can get one of those. This is Joe and Tell. Okay. Oh, I love it. You know how this thing works, this grammar and pickup? I'm curious. Because I know where those vlogs are for sure. There's a handle. Oh, okay. You just go through. Yeah, it goes. It's like that with blueberries. They're like cones. I thought it was a thumb. Yeah. That's great. You could use that for your hair. Yeah, I could. Thank you. I'll borrow that. I'll borrow these. I got a call one day and they said, Riverhead Savings Bank records are being thrown out. And I went down and sure enough, there was a dumpster. And I went inside and I said, what are you doing? Well, we don't know who wants these. I said, I'll take some of the things. So I have the first book from the Riverhead Savings Bank. There's a lot of information in it. And among the items that I saved, this is called a copper plate for printing. Okay. And I have two boxes full. And I can just about lift them. And that corresponds to the Riverhead Savings Bank. Look at those bracelets. They printed themselves. Can I see that book for a second? Thank you. That's cool. Look at that. Look at that. Yeah, yeah. That's pretty cool. You can see the faces. This is acid free paper. 1901 to 1911. And I used nothing but acid free paper in the office. 1872. These years, 1872 to 1885. Total assets of the Bank is 1872. The Swanson Bank is 1872. The Swanson Bank is 1872. 1870s, 5,000, 9,000. Some other books that I've written. The first book I wrote was, I think, 2003, 2004, Turn of the Century, Hotels and B&Bs in South Jamesport and Riverhead. That is currently out of print. I wrote one volume in three parts called Readings from Riverhead. They tried to incorporate the village of Riverhead, but it didn't go anywhere. And the list of Hamlet names. And... Orphans of 1899, Swedenborgian Cemetery, the Wading River Cemetery, and memorials. And part three is Transportation. How transportation developed. I burned down. Because you have been talking about 214 Griffin Avenue. I did some research, and I made a little booklet with information. James Slade started the first newspaper here in Riverhead. And Samuel Terry, who bought the house after James Slade, he had a lot of information and... I have a picture of him. He was never a town historian, but it says he was a historian. He invented a lot of things. The Riverhead Methodist Church asked me about the builder of their church. And it was Tappan Reeve. His grandfather founded the first law school in the country in Litchfield, Connecticut. And he was, he came from Ackerborg. His father was a preacher. And I have pictures in here of other buildings that he built. He was born in 1812 and died in 1882. It amazes me to see how many hotels were here in Riverhead. Yeah. I really didn't know that. I have to talk about this. Our town seal. Are you aware that that was the seal? That is not the town seal? No. It is. You have a great display downstairs with the different changes. The supervisor's book that I wrote in 2010. I interviewed Joe Janoski, who was former supervisor. And he gave me the story of... The seal. And the short story is that they were looking for a seal for some anniversary. And he drew the seal. And that's the seal that the town adopted. Someone came to him and said, Joe. That boat will never sail. The sails are all wrong. So he redrew it. And that's what he redrew. But it is not the adopted town seal. So I would like, if possible, Mr. Supervisor, that all the town offices get a copy of this. Okay.

So they can know what's the town seal and what isn't. And it has the history of the town seals. And the flags. And so... I didn't have... [transcription gap] I put together 30 ideas, things that people could do, and I've had them out on that table in the lobby, and they keep disappearing. So I hope that it's more than just interesting to read. I did contact the recreation department because I have number 28 sponsor a kite festival one day at Old Town Beaches and along the riverfront. I would ask that the town board waive the fee for that day so people can just go and fly their kites in celebration. And... I did hear back from Ray Coyne and he's interested. As you know, some of you know, when Shirley Simon passed away, she was a wealth of knowledge. She also donated a number of items. And one is the picture. And she was the one that sat on this property. And... It was... Her uncle was an architect and really quite a famous artist. He studied in Europe and New York City. And... Italy. France. And... He... Was the one that designed that. But after she passed away, her daughter brought me a picture that's this big. And unfortunately it's bent. So I have to have that fixed. I think I spoke to you about that. And it's an earlier picture of a Victorian house. And I need to do research on the... I think it's a... On the history of this property. And it was in the Vale family from here. To Roanoke Avenue. And... So. I'm working on that. I'm waiting for the weather to get better. So I can go to the county center and do some research. I need to talk about budget supplies. Budget supplies. Budget supplies. This is the third year that there has been zero amount for supplies. And last year you were kind enough to realize that and give me some money. We're prepared to do the same. I appreciate that. And I'm downstairs. Oh, by my lonesome. And if I fell or something, dropped a box on my foot and I couldn't walk, no one would ever hear me. So I sent something off to Devin about a walkie-talkie that could be done and connected to the officer. Here in the lobby. And that would make me more comfortable. I'm sure we can do that. The best news is Tony can go. That's even better news. So as long as it works from the basement up here. I'll take it right out of Devin's salary. No problem. Is that like a life alert? It's a smaller little, she wears it around her neck. And this way she can press a button. And contact, reach out to somebody in case she takes a tumble. That's a good idea. Absolutely. Do you have any questions about my office? Oh, surprise. Oh, there's more.

This is my computer printout. From this document.

It is John Woodhull's Oath of Office from 1827. I put it in this because oil on hands damages the paper. But in between every document, there is an acid-free paper. So that's his original signature. Would you like to look at this? I'm afraid to touch it. It's alright because it's in plastic. Oh. Ken, don't take it out of the plastic. This one is for a liquor license. From 1833. John T. Lewis is granted a license to keep an inn or tavern and has the necessary accommodations to entertain travelers. And that a tavern is absolutely necessary for the actual accommodations of travelers at the place in which he now resides. And remaining a person of good moral integrity. And that's a great way to end the day. Good moral character is not permitted by this license to sell liquor of any kind unless the same they drank in his house, outhouse, yard, or garden. What kind of guy? Drinking in an outhouse. Who approves any outhouse? That's before the state liquor authority. Was that the town that approved that? Yes. Then the state got involved. Because they wanted to get money for licenses. Oh, taxing. Taxing. Why didn't they get away from that? It wasn't. It's a good question. And the last show and tell I have is a school paper. Oh, it's great handwriting. 1827. My records go back, town records go back to 1897. I don't have any. I don't have anything from the first couple of years of the town. And this is the report of this school. Districts of the town to the town superintendent of common schools. The district number one. And there were 88 children. And their names of the parent. And how many kids he had in school. And the name of the school. So I'm still working on school records. They're a little boring. I'm curious if Bob Kerr's name was listed on that. With all of the things that you have in your possession, how did you determine which ones you are going to bring to us today? I thought these three would be most interesting. The oath of office for a supervisor. I have about 40 oaths of office for different persons within town government. Electoral license I thought would be interesting. And I have a lot of school papers which list, as I say, a parent and the number of children he had in school. That's so interesting. I have. I have papers that, where the school districts are consolidated. And they have to sell the school. And I have election of school officials, trustees of the school. So I love being a town historian. There's nothing better. You do a great job. I love that school on Sound Avenue. Yes. Right by the liquor store. And how they used to cool that. They did it from the basement. And it was just a big opening in the basement. And then it came up and vented into the classroom. And also the chalkboards that went all the way across. And any time somebody is doing something with that building, I was like, I hope they don't destroy that. Because I love that building. It's built so well. Yes. And if anybody has a photograph of the inside of the building on the corner of Roanoke Avenue and Middle Road, Bob is looking for a picture of the inside of the. Studebaker. Yes. The old Studebaker showroom. Yep. So. It's one of my favorite buildings. Cool. Another one of them. Does anybody have any questions? Just for the public, Georgette, Wednesdays you're open. What are your hours? 9 to 3. 9 to 3 every Wednesday. And you come into the town hall at 4 West 2nd Street. Jump on the elevator. Go down to the lower level. Walk out the elevator to the right. And you'll see the town historian's office. Okay. Well, thank you so much. Well, thank you for inviting me. We love hearing this stuff all the time. Between you and Richard Wines, I could sit and listen all day long. So I love the history of the town. Thank you. [transcription gap] I love the history of this town. And you've got some, you've got some great artifacts without a doubt. So thank you for coming in. We appreciated it. You're welcome. Thank you for all your good work. Yes. Really is. Absolutely. And, Georgette, I keep forgetting to bring up, but I am going to bring a celebration that was done in 60's with the parade. Do you remember you gave me the CD? Yes. And I have it. I've converted it so I can give it to these guys so they can do snippets. I mean, that's what Main Street was bustling. And we have to think about America 250, too. Yes. Yes, absolutely. I love the kite idea. I have a lot. I have four or five boxes of past celebrations. Bob still has his kite that had the tail off of it with the key hanging from it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. When he was a little kid. This guy's out and he's following me. Because you're such a good sport. I love it. I have to say. Yeah, Ben Franklin was a friend of mine. I was there when he was doing that. You gave him the idea. Right. You just should have patented. You missed out on that. Key cuts. Well, Georgette, thank you so much. Yes, thank you very much. We're going to close the open session and move on to our executive session. And it's always interesting to talk to you. So I appreciate you coming in and what you do for us. Thank you. Do you need help with the box? No, it's not that heavy. Because Devin. I just have an announcement before you close. Yeah, go right ahead. So just so the public is aware, this Saturday, March 8th, we are having our second annual raising of the Irish flag, which signifies the upcoming East Enamel Society Jamesport Parade, which is going to be on March 15th. The Irish flag raising is at the George and Mary's. George Young Community Center. And that is at 1030 in the morning. And then there's actually a leprechaun leap after that in South Jamesport. It's sponsored by the watershed. And registration for that begins at 11 o'clock. And then it's basically a polar bear plunge. So we hope that you can join us for the raising of the flag. We hope to see you at the polar plunge and at the parade on March 15th. Awesome. Lots of good stuff going on. Yes, there is. Yes, there is. Okay. I have a quick item here. Okay. Remember Sunday, March 9th, daylight savings time? Turn your clocks forward so we all lose an hour, but we get that nice daylight later in the evening, which is so missed for me over the winter. I hate when they change them back, but we'll get that hour back. And there are other events scheduled for spring and St. Patrick's Day around town. You can check on various websites. So people, have a great weekend. I got one more. Go right ahead. So I just want to take a moment to thank, so over the past almost three years, we have been working very diligently with the Suffolk County Department of Health, also with County Executive Ed Romaine. But I have to commend our building and grounds and engineers, Ken Test, and the staff at Suffolk County. They've done an amazing job. And so I want to put up a photo up now, if we can, Chip. So as of yesterday, our bathrooms have arrived at EPCA, Veterans Memorial Park. And so finally, all of our bikers, walkers, pickleball players, tennis players, baseball players, people utilizing the ice rink. So now we finally have, the restrooms have arrived. They have been lowered and put into place yesterday. So building your grounds is just an incredible thing. job over the last few months, almost really a year since we had the temporary structure arrive, the temporary bathrooms, cleaning them, maintaining them. It's been an exhausting effort, but I just need to know how much all of us appreciate what they have been doing. This has been a long time coming. There was a lot of things that were said, we're never going to get anything done up at Veterans Memorial Park. It just didn't have the infrastructure. And so now with electric water, everything that's been put in place, so now there are bathrooms in place and everything is being hooked up between today and tomorrow to completion of the septic systems. Then we'll just be waiting on LIPR to come in to put the transformer in to hook up the electric, which will be relatively soon. So I just want to thank Ken Testa, Building Arounds, everyone for continuously working on this project and getting this going. So this is really a great day, great time up at Veterans Memorial Park. It is one of the largest used parks in the east end of Los Angeles. Long Island. And we saw that during the pandemic and how many people come and our expansion is up to everything great towards all additional parking, additional activities. So we're moving along at Veterans Memorial Park. And now there'll be old trees going. We have another 30 trees that people have purchased. That's fantastic. That will be continued to be planted in the springtime. So that's exciting too. So now that that is in place, we're going to kind of work a nice gathering in a little picnic table area right outside that. So it's coming a long way. It's really beautifying the whole park. So I just wanted to give everybody an update. More importantly, say thank you to Building Arounds. And Supervisor, regarding the ice rink, also during the next school break, Ray Coyne has scheduled free skating for the children in the town. That's going to be, I don't have the specific dates. He's got it up on their website. It's the end of March during the next school break. One is going to be a Saturday event and the other is going to be a following Sunday event. I believe these are in the end of March. But we'll get back to you. And Ray has it posted. So it's free skates for the children of the town. Free skating. Very good. And there's also going to be another day in April where it's going to be a weekday free skating for the kids as well. During their spring break. Their Easter break. Yes. Good. Excellent. All right. That's it for open session. In a moment, we're going to go into executive session to discuss matters of personnel, matters surrounding a change in status of an employee with Merrifield, Pradenti, and Hurley. All right. All right. [transcription gap] All right. [transcription gap] All right. All right. All right. [transcription gap] All right. All right. All right. [transcription gap] employee with Howard, matters surrounding possible change in status of an employee, Waskie and Thomas. Under legal matters, we have matters surrounding contractual agreement between the town of Riverhead and the BIDMA with Hubbard and Waskie. We have matters surrounding potential Supreme Court litigation for town code violations with Howard. We have matters surrounding the sale lease of real property with Kern and Hurley. And we have matters surrounding a possible MOA with Hubbard. If I could have a motion to close open session and go into executive session. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Okay, open session is closed. Everybody have a wonderful weekend and we'll see you next week and we're going to go off to executive session. Bye bye.